(right) An opponent to President Hugo Chavez, left,
uses an iron stick to hit a Chavez supporter during a rally against
the reforms to the nation's constitution proposed by the president
in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. Venezuelans will
vote to approve or reject the reforms in a referendum on Dec. 2. Angel
Manzanares / AP Photo

QUITO, Ecuador --Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and two of his regional
proteges are rewriting their nations' constitutions, following a Latin
American tradition of using the fundamental charter to attempt radical
breaks from past regimes.

Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are promoting constitutional reforms
as ways to root out corruption, redistribute wealth to the poor, and
in the case of Bolivia, reverse centuries of discrimination against an
Indian majority.

But opponents call them bald-faced power grabs by leftist presidents
seeking to crown themselves with limitless authority.

(right) Coca farmers Silvia Reyes, left and Lorena Rodriguez listen
to the news on a radio during a vigil in front of National Congress building
to demand the approval by the Bolivian Senate of a bonus for elderly
people proposed by President Evo Morales' MAS governing party in La Paz
on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. The Bolivian Senate is controlled by opposition
parties. Dado Galdieri / AP Photo

"The impression is that little emperors are being formed in the
Andes with excessive power in the executive branch," said Luis Verdesoto,
a political scientist in Quito.

A special assembly convenes Thursday to draft a new Ecuadorean constitution,
the country's 20th since declaring independence from Spain 195 years
ago. President Rafael Correa has promised a document that will wrest
power from the country's traditional political parties, which many Ecuadoreans
blame for their chronically unstable nation's ills.

In Bolivia, a rump constitutional assembly - all but three opposition
delegates boycotted the vote - approved a framework for a new constitution
over the weekend. It would allow the president unlimited re-election
and gives central authorities greater control over spending at the expense
of state governments.

(right) Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gestures during a rally in
Caracas, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. Venezuelans will decide this Dec. 2
whether to approve constitutional changes that would let Chavez run for
re-election indefinitely, extend presidential terms from six to seven
years, and create new types of property to be managed by cooperatives
and communities, among other changes. Rodrigo Abd / AP Photo

And on Sunday, Venezuelans vote on 69 amendments that will give Chavez
even more power to remake the oil-rich nation into a socialist state.
If approved, Chavez, 53, would be able run for re-election indefinitely,
and presidential recalls will be more difficult.

Chavez also would be able to redraw political districts, and declare
indefinite states of emergency during which he can suspend certain civil
liberties and censor the media.

While opponents have taken to the streets, the promised changes also
have generated huge expectations as the presidents promise to use expanded
powers to improve the lot of the long-neglected poor.

Including people who haven't benefited from Latin America's shift from
right-wing dictatorships to democracies is a constant theme for Chavez,
Correa and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

But these new constitutions risk "personalizing too much power,
which instead of consolidating democracy, weakens it," said Marta
Lagos, who directs Corporacion Latinobarometro, a Chile-based regional
polling organization.

Chavez has certainly personalized Sunday's referendum, making it an
us-against-them proposition.

"He who says he supports Chavez but votes 'no' is a traitor, a
true traitor," he said in a campaign appearance. "He's against
me, against the revolution and against the people."

Chavez has no guarantee of victory on Sunday - a poll published last
week showed 49 percent of likely voters opposed Venezuela's constitutional
reforms, ahead of the 39 percent who favored the changes. The polling
firm Datanalisis surveyed 1,854 Venezuelans and the poll had a margin
of error of 2.5 percentage points. The government has cited other polls
showing Chavez in the lead.

The latest developments in Bolivia also could backfire on Morales. The
constitutional assembly had to convene in a military garrison amid riots
by opponents who say the new charter will benefit indigenous groups at
the expense of regions led by his opponents. Many fear a new constitution
approved by the indigenous majority will tear the divided nation apart.

Unlike Morales, Ecuador's Correa will have an ample majority - 80 of
the 130 seats - in the country's constitutional assembly.

The assembly convening Thursday will meet for six months, a period that
can be extended by two months. The final text needs approval in a national
referendum.

Correa, 44, is Ecuador's eighth president in a decade. He says the new
charter will make politicians more accountable, including allowing the
recall of elected officials, and will expand government control over
Ecuador's free-market economy.

His opponents say his true intention is to concentrate power in the
presidency. But 82 percent of the voters, disgusted with deeply rooted
corruption and greed among the political elite, supported Correa's call
for the assembly.

In its first act, the assembly is expected to order the opposition-dominated
Congress into recess and replace it with a commission that will legislate
until a new charter is approved and general elections called. "Congress
is closed only in a dictatorship," bemoaned opposition congressman
Carlos Gonzalez.
______Associated Press writers Monte Hayes and Leslie Josephs in Lima, Peru
contributed to this report.